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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DoD) struck a deal with the Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is part of Johnson & Johnson, to demonstrate large-scale manufacturing and delivery of the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
As part of the agreement,... Read More »
Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) personnel have forwarded correspondence to the White House advocating nationwide mask requirements.
The organizations are urging issuance of a federal mask directive to curtail the spread of COVID-19, protect the... Read More »
A clinical trial dubbed I-SPY COVID enrolled its first patients last week, setting into motion plans to evaluate the efficacy of several COVID-19 therapeutics under the collaborative efforts of the COVID R&D Alliance, AbbVie, Inc., Amgen Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
“I’m proud... Read More »
There are ways to conduct safe elections even during a pandemic like COVID-19, but despite lessons provided by recent primary elections, researchers from RAND warn that nine states have adopted no policies key to safe voter participation in the 2020 presidential election.
This lack of... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center (MIDRC) this week, beginning a new effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic through a mix of artificial intelligence-created tools and medical imaging.
MIDRC is a collaboration of multiple institutions,... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative’s NTI Index shows that only 47 percent of countries have a response plan in place for a cyberattack on a nuclear facility.
Further, NTI reveals that most of those nations do not have adequate regulations for cybersecurity. The NTI Index found that only 34 percent... Read More »
Battelle is providing a service to healthcare workers in Hawaii to sterilize personal protective equipment (PPE).
Any healthcare provider in the state qualifies for the free decontamination service. The masks are decontaminated through Battelle’s process, called the Critical Care... Read More »
Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will lead a phase 2 clinical trial -- ACTIV-2 -- of experimental therapeutics, to see how an antibody-based treatment and others may fare against those with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.
Mild to moderate, in... Read More »
Raytheon Missiles & Defense officials said the firm has partnered with the Israeli-based defense technology company RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. to establish a domestic Iron Dome Weapon System production facility.
"This will be the first Iron Dome all-up-round facility outside of Israel,... Read More »
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) maintains researchers have engineered antiviral compounds proven to kill several types of coronaviruses in both cells and mice.
The work has also proven effective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The compounds... Read More »
Rapid manufacturing and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine will rank as one of the most challenging U.S. government initiatives ever undertaken, though it can successfully happen with aggressive planning, management, and funding, concludes a newly released report that includes a powerful indictment... Read More »
A study by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) examined the effectiveness of government travel bans in Europe on slowing the spread of COVID-19.
The study found that international flight connections played a particularly important role in the early stages of the... Read More »
A team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has found a Zika virus mutation that may be responsible for the outbreak that occurred in 2015 and 2016.
Mosquitoes primarily transmit the Zika virus. Because it circulates between mosquitoes and animals/humans, they are prone to... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) awarded Johns Hopkins researchers $35 million for clinical trials to test a convalescent blood plasma outpatient treatment to fight COVID-19.
The treatment... Read More »
Inovio, a biotechnology company, revealed that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, INO-4800, was effective in protecting non-human primates, specifically rhesus macaques, from the virus 13 weeks after the last vaccination.
These results demonstrate that vaccine candidates reduced viral load in... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced last week that it will award $248.7 million worth of contracts to seven biomedical diagnostic companies for new COVID-19 tests capable of increasing the number, type, and availability of tests by millions per week in short order.
With the need... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has reached an agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to procure Ebola virus treatment as part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) effort to prepare for public health emergencies.
The treatment, known as... Read More »
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) officials said the high-speed broadband communications platform dedicated to and purpose built for America’s first responders is expanding across New York state.
Officials are espousing the benefits of adding 22 new FirstNet cell sites and other... Read More »
Under an agreement reached with global biopharmaceutical companies Sanofi and GSK, the U.S. government will pay as much as $2.1 billion for development and delivery of 100 million doses of a vaccine to combat COVID-19.
It’s the largest agreement yet negotiated by Operation Warp Speed and it... Read More »
In pre-clinical data recently published in Nature, Johnson & Johnson’s lead vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, provoked strong antibody responses in non-human primates, subsequently blocking infection of their lungs.
“We are excited to see these pre-clinical... Read More »
As COVID-19 caused deaths in the United States have crossed 150,000, the Center for Health Security has released a report noting policy actions and data reporting needed at all levels of government to effectively turn the tide against the pandemic.
“Unlike many countries in the world, the... Read More »
A COVID-19 vaccine candidate -- mRNA-1273 -- produced by Moderna, Inc. and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) brought broad immune responses and protection to the upper and lower airways of nonhuman primates, NIAID scientists reported this week.
After two doses of... Read More »
Following review of pre-clinical and phase 1/2 clinical trial data, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have selected a single mRNA vaccine candidate from the BNT162 program for use against SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes COVID-19 -- in a global phase 2/3 safety and efficacy trial.
Investigators... Read More »
At sites across the United States, a phase 3 trial of the investigational vaccine mRNA-1273, jointly developed by Moderna, Inc. and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is set to enroll 30,000 volunteers for testing.
Anyone 18 years of age and older, who does not... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. signed an agreement with AstraZeneca to provide contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services for large-scale manufacturing of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The $174 million deal runs through 2021. It follows an $87 million contract in June for... Read More »
A LabCorp COVID-19 diagnostic test became the first of its kind to gain a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization (EUA) last week, for its potential to diagnose COVID-19 infections in those without symptoms.
An EUA was also granted to allow its use in pooled... Read More »
The investment to prevent the spread of infectious disease are well worth it compared to the costs associated with these outbreaks, a new analysis by published in Science by the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance proclaims.
While zoonotic disease outbreaks like the one that caused the COVID-19... Read More »
Hologic will expand production of its custom sample collection and processing consumables used for COVID-19 tests as part of a $7.6 million investment from the United States Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense (DoD).
The contract is "undefinitized," meaning its terms and... Read More »
Progress on protecting nuclear materials and facilities against theft and sabotage has slowed significantly over the past two years, the Nuclear Threat Initiativeʻs 2020 NTI Nuclear Security Index has found.
The decline in the rate of improvement to national regulatory structures and the global... Read More »
A new agreement reached between Bavarian Nordic A/S and AdaptVac for 4 million euros upfront will allow Bavarian to license AdaptVac’s capsid virus like particle (cVLP) technology for coronaviruses.
Of particular note here is that the agreement gives Bavarian global commercialization rights to... Read More »
Up to 600 million doses of a vaccine candidate produced by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech could be acquired by the United States government under a deal penned this week.
All of this would be conditional on the vaccine’s successful manufacture and either Emergency Use Authorization or licensure... Read More »
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) officials said the high-speed broadband communications platform dedicated to first responders has expanded across North Carolina as a means of advancing public safety communications.
“FirstNet is a dedicated broadband platform for public safety, by... Read More »
CureVac and GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) have signed an agreement to work together on the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of as many as five mRNA-based vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for use against infectious diseases.
By collaborating, CureVac gains access to GSK’s mRNA... Read More »
A coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University produced strong immune responses in a phase 1/2 trial of 1,077 people, scientists from the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group reported this week, possibly heralding a safe and effective candidate.
The findings of the UK trial, which... Read More »
Several biopharmaceutical companies are working in unprecedented fashion to develop, manufacture and deliver a safe and effective vaccine to combat COVID-19 as soon as is humanly possible.
Executives from five companies developing COVID-19 vaccine candidates — AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson &... Read More »
